NYT: Dry Southwest, Uncertain Summer

[DeepModem Mom]

Dry Southwest, Uncertain Summer


(Michael Benanav for The New York Times)
Severe drought has left northern New Mexico's mountains with little snow cover.

IT was a beautiful day in the Santa Fe National Forest. Mike and Kathy Serk, hikers from the suburbs of Santa Fe, N.M., were taking a break along the Raven's Ridge Trail, sitting on fallen logs in a pool of sunlight for a leisurely lunch of sandwiches and potato chips. Around them, towering spruce trees and pale green aspens swayed gently in a mountain breeze. Songbirds flitted among the branches. Nearby on the clear, dry trail, hikers and mountain bikers occasionally passed by.

But something was out of kilter.

These conditions were perfectly normal for mid-June, but this was the first week of March. The trail should have been buried beneath several feet of snow.

This year snow and rain have largely passed the Southwest by. The period from November through March was the driest in Santa Fe and Albuquerque since record-keeping began in 1892. Statewide in New Mexico, this was one of the driest seasons on record. Arizona set new records for winter drought, with Phoenix recording no rainfall for a stretch of 143 days and some Tucson residents reduced to watering the cactuses in their gardens. A smattering of spring storms have done little to make up for the missing moisture.

The Serks and New Mexico's other seasoned nature lovers know well what drought like this portends in a national forest, and they are getting their outdoor time while they can....No one has said officially that this forest will be shut down. No one has announced, or yet decided, that its trails will be off limits this summer to backpackers and campers or its rivers closed to rafters and kayakers. But the signs are clear enough. Drought means fire danger, and when that danger is high enough, the public is barred. Forest Service officials are predicting an early start to this year's wildfire season, which could be severe....

http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/04/28/travel/escapes/28drought.html

[xchrom]

1. that's not good.

that's a beautiful part of the country -- but if they don't have snow -- they lose a lot of the water they need in any given year.

[TygrBright]

2. It WILL be a severe fire season...

...because we had a wet period last summer that spurred a LOT of new growth. It's all dead now, and dry as tinder.

I'm thinking of trying to get all the neighbors on our street together to discuss the dry vacant lot that backs all our properties and work out some kind of contingency plan in case some dickhead cutting across it flips a butt into the tinder. We'd need to coordinate with the fire dept for reporting, etc., and with each other for evacuation, contact with family members, etc.

worriedly,
Bright

[Bobbieo]

3. Dry and very cool for the Yuma area, too

[phantom power]

4. Every region dependent on snowpack for their water budget....

is in big trouble. Near as I can tell, there are no decision-makers who yet grasp how bad this is going to be. Out here in AZ, Napolitano seems to understand that there might be some kind of problem, but if she understands the full extent of it, she isn't letting on.

[barb162]

6. Didn't Phoenix go over a hundred days without rain recently

[phantom power]

8. Yes, 143 days. The previous record had been 101.

[Kolesar]

7. Got any good links on the Rockies' snowpack & water supplies?

It would help me settle a weeks-long dispute I am having over an article I wrote. It was about California in particular. Let me know if you have anything convenient. You don't have to jump through hoops to do it. Thanks

[phantom power]

9. This might be a place to start:

http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/factpub/wsf_primer.html

[Kolesar]

10. Thanks

That certainly covers the subject. I will have to comb the site to find the specifics I need.

[Odin2005]

5. The people in McMansions in the SW are going to get a rude awakening...

...when water stops coming out of thier sprinklers and thier precious lawns dry up and die. Not that I feel sorry for those dumbfucks.